It would be a fitting honor for a president whose legacy continues to shape the geopolitical landscape today. “Your new president is taking office in quite different circumstances than when I became president eight years ago,” Truman told the nation in his farewell address. He was known for understatement — often to comedic effect — but he had never spoken words more serious.

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When he was thrust into power upon President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s death in April 1945, turmoil reigned across the globe. As the Soviet Union pressed forward on its offensive to take Berlin, Japan remained defiant in the face of the Allies. The first atom bomb had not yet been successfully detonated, and the resolution of World War II was uncertain.

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